★★★★★ I was familiar with Ina Garten from watching a few episodes of Barefoot Contessa on The Food Network with my mom. While I found her show pleasant, I wouldn’t have called myself a huge fan. After listening to Be Ready When the Luck Happens, I'm officially a fan.
Category: Non Fiction
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
★★★★★ Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act, which contains the record producer’s 78 areas of thought on creativity, argues that creativity is as essential to being human as breathing. As the subtitle suggests, Rubin believes creativity is a way of being in the world.
The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You
★★★★☆ Elaine Aron is a leading expert on highly sensitive persons (HSPs) and her book is an excellent resource for understanding more about sensitivity, a trait that’s often misunderstood, and for providing strategies on how HSPs can use their sensitive natures to thrive.
How to Know a Person by David Brooks
★★★★☆ There’s a loneliness epidemic in America, and it’s having devastating consequences. I see the tragic impact that feeling isolated and misunderstood is having on college students in my daily work on a college campus. I thought How to Know a Person might give me some insight into how I could take steps in my own life to address this societal health crisis.
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
★★★★☆ Our society glorifies those who ultra-specialize in a field and celebrates them as smarter or more talented than others. We tend to believe a wrist surgeon is better and more qualified to operate on our carpal tunnel than a general surgeon. Using data and the personal stories of musicians and athletes, such as Tiger Woods, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein tackles why this conventional wisdom isn’t necessarily true.
We are the Weather by Johnathan Safran Foer
★★★☆☆ We are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast discusses the impact of what we eat on the climate. I came into this book believing the climate crisis is real and urgent and that large-scale changes in human behavior are our best hope in solving the challenges. This book identifies what one of those changes needs to be to reduce our negative impact on the planet.
Radical Candor by Kim Scott
★★★☆☆ Radical Candor by Kim Scott says most behavior by bosses falls into one of four quadrants: ruinous empathy, radical candor, manipulative insincerity, or obnoxious aggression.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
★★★★★ With its message of gratitude and reciprocating gifts, Braiding Sweetgrass was an excellent choice to read during the Thanksgiving season. Using the braiding metaphor, the author, trained as a botanist, weaves scientific, environmental, cultural, and spiritual knowledge to teach readers a different way of seeing the world.
Bossypants by Tina Fey
★★★☆☆ Tina Fey is a major celebrity in our house - mostly because she’s one of the most famous people to attend. Given how much I’ve heard about comedian Tina Fey over the years, I was excited to listen to her memoir, especially since everyone kept describing it as hilarious and laugh-out-loud funny.
Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
★★★☆☆ Boundaries are a critical component of a happy, healthy life. With this in mind, I sought this book out to see if there were areas where my boundaries needed a tune-up. I was not expecting the book to rely so heavily on the Bible and Christianity.